The ABCs of Fire Safety

(October, 2004) October is Fire Safety Month in the Riverhead School District. The Riverhead Fire Department visited each of the elementary schools in the District to remind them to install and/or test the smoke alarms in their homes and as their families turn back the clocks to replace the old batteries in their smoke alarms. In addition, they encourage the children to devise an escape plan with their families and then utilizing their mobile "smokehouse" teach fire safety.

The firefighters, who perform this important community service (pictured top to bottom: Chief Carl Wooten, Ex-Chief Vincent Golembeski and Harold "Smoky" Schaefer, who has been a firefighter for 66 years), show the young students a video on the abcs of fire safety and then (in the smokehouse "bedroom") have the students practice waking up in a smoky room, show them how to roll out of bed safely, stay close to the floor, crawl to the door, touch it to see if it's warm, and then if it is (and it is in the smoke house), escape down a ladder outside the bedroom window. In addition, the children learn that after their escape they should run to their designated safety place, and finally how to dial 911 and calmly tell the fire department where the fire is.

In the classroom, students made posters, reviewed fire safety and devised an escape plan for their families.

Did you check your smoke alarms?